During January 2011...

I spent last week working at Off-site Storage. I found it a lot less difficult than previously advertised and even gratifying. I was able to understand the whole process, see it at work and contribute to the operation. I encourage everyone to try it. I did work hard, but not so hard that I was out of commission (I went to a spin class after working on Tuesday). I especially enjoyed spending time with folks I don’t often see- Wanda, Mary Beth, Cristina and Doris. I got to know Tony and Roddy-good guys both. So, after a week at Off-site Storage, I encourage everyone to give it their best shot.

You might even get Scott to take you up to the top of the stacks for a bird’s eye view.

For those of you who had asked me about the calendar that Lynn showed at the last staff meeting (and that Mary Reeves won) here’s some info about it and how you can have one of your own! I had posted this to our Special Collections blog before the holidays, but wanted to share it with everyone since there is some interest among other staff, too. (I think the WFU bookstore has them in stock now, but you can also order them from the Asgard Press site)…

This past summer (remember when it was hot)? we received a request from a researcher who wanted to see our collection of old football programs, especially the ones from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. He said he wanted to make a calendar of some of the covers, and he spent several days looking through and photographing our collection. We thought that was a nice idea, but didn’t realize what a great final product would result! Lo and behold, one day a few weeks ago, I received a box of the new calendars and they look GREAT. We are excited that part of our collection made this publication possible, and we hope that lots of folks will want one for themselves. No, we don’t get any money from the sales of the calendars, but it’s a great tool for showcasing the unique materials that are in the Archives and letting people know that we are here. If you know a Wake alum, current student, or anyone who loves WFU, this would be a great gift.

Check out the link above to get more info and to order one for yourself.

Last week we had an inquiry from Tim Clodfelter at the Winston-Salem Journal regarding the USS Wake Forest Victory ship. Someone had written in asking where to find photos of the war ship, and we just so happened to have them here. To get the full story of the ship, read the Ask Sam article.

The Z. Smith Reynolds Library has won the 2011 ACRL “Excellence in Academic Libraries” award in the university category! The Association of College and Research Libraries gives this prize annually to acknowledge the exemplary accomplishments of librarians and library staff working together to further the educational mission of the institution. ACRL Executive Director Mary Ellen K. Davis states that receiving this award is “a national tribute to a library and its staff for the outstanding services, programs and leadership they provide to their students, administrators, faculty and community.”

In naming ZSR as the winner, the selection committee cited the library’s strong institutional focus and values. The award announcement detailed the committee’s reason for choosing ZSR: “The selection committee was impressed with the strong alignment of the library to institutional values and ambitions as evidenced through the variety of programs developed to support and foster student learning. The Z. Smith Reynolds Library is a catalyst bringing together faculty, students and staff. The library values and celebrates its employees whose teamwork creates the energy and vitality evidenced in their application.”

The library submitted an application that outlines examples of creativity and innovation, leadership within the field, and important relationships with faculty and students. This high honor recognizes that ZSR truly lives out its mission to help Wake Forest University students, faculty and staff succeed.

On November 29, 2010, the ZSR Library received the keys to the long-awaited off-site storage building, which is located on 30th Street just beyond the baseball stadium. After a week of staff training, work began on the monumental task of accessioning almost 200,000 volumes by June 2011. First, staff will transfer items that were formerly stored in leased commercial space. As previously announced, the next stage will entail moving journal volumes out of the overcrowded stacks in the ZSR building. By using a WFU-owned facility, ZSR can provide better services, such as scanning and delivering digital copies of requested journal articles. Look for this enhanced journal requesting service to begin sometime next summer. To date, staff have added 61,350 volumes and are processing over 2000 volumes a day!

ZSR will sponsor the second annual “Senior Showcase” to recognize outstanding senior thesis research and senior projects completed by Wake Forest undergraduates. Last year’s pilot showcase honored three seniors. The Senior Showcase gives students the opportunity to share their research or projects before the Wake Forest community at an event hosted by the library in April. A committee of library faculty will select up to five students, one from each division of the College, from a pool of nominees recommended by you. Projects completed in the 2010-2011 academic year will be eligible for consideration. The review committee will evaluate submissions using the following criteria:

Evidence of thorough research

Originality

Clear argument

Sound structure

Well-written

Sound conclusions

Credible sources

Importance to the field

Strength of faculty recommendation

Specific details and dates, along with a formal call for nominations, will be announced in the next month. Start thinking now about nominating for your top senior students’ theses and projects!

Mustafa Abdullah, 2010 WFU graduate and recipient of the 2010 MLK Building the Dream Award, spoke in January on his work as a community organizer promoting Dr. King’s dream of social justice.

Values, Education and Governance in Nigeria: How Would the Country Get the Right Balance?Wednesday, February 9, 2011, 3 p.m.Room 204, ZSR Library
Dr. Nuhu Yaqub, Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence, will speak on the interconnection among Nigerian values, education and government.

Women in Mathematics and Public HealthTuesday, March 29, 2011, 4 p.m.Allen Mandelbaum Reading Room, ZSR Library
During Women’s History Month, Associate Professor Sarah Raynor and Professor Ellen Kirkman of the Department of Mathematics and Associate Professor Mara Vitolins of the Department of Epidemiology and Prevention will reflect on the important role women have played in their respective disciplines, their own career and research experiences, and their visions for the future of women in mathematics and public health.

Ninja in the Dragon’s Den: The Contours of Regionalization in East Asian Action Cinema Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 3 p.m.Allen Mandelbaum Reading Room, ZSR Library
In anticipation of Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month in May, Assistant Professor Marc Yamada of the East Asian Languages and Cultures Department will discuss East Asian action cinema.

Earth Day ProgramTuesday, April 19, 2011
ZSR will celebrate Earth Day in the last series program of the semester.

The Special Collections Department at ZSR recently received two grants to digitize primary documents of North Carolina religious history.

Librarians from the North Carolina Baptist Historical Collection at ZSR are participating with colleagues at Duke and UNC-CH on a planning grant sponsored by the Library Services and Technology Act. The History of Religion in North Carolina project aims to produce a census of primary source materials documenting the religious history of the state. The initiative will focus on print sources such as church histories, biographies and published documentation. By November 2010, 4,000 titles had been identified as prospects for digitization for all religious traditions, and over 2,000 of these were Baptist. Project leaders anticipate that the final number of volumes will reach at least 7,000, with Baptist materials remaining at about half the total for all religious groups.

The grant’s steering committee anticipates submitting the grant for digitizing the sources in 2011-12 and hopes to receive the funding to begin large-scale digitization in 2012-13.

When Duke’s Andy Keck put the whole text of the First United Methodist Church of Charlotte’s history through Wordle, the most prominent word by far was the abbreviation, “Mrs.”!

Visit the project blog for more information about the History of Religion in North Carolina project.

ZSR has also received grant funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to digitize and provide online access to one of North Carolina’s oldest continuously published newspapers, the Biblical Recorder. Under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, the grant is administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources. As a historical resource, the Biblical Recorder transcends parochial and confessional categories, offering texts and images that open windows into domestic, regional, national and international spheres in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Even the publishing history of the Biblical Recorder is full of surprises. The man who actually managed its printing for its first decades was an African-American, Virgil Jones. Its first editor, Thomas Meredith, died with the publication in debt and foundering. It was his wife, who also wrote editorials, who finally managed to make the newspaper financially stable. The Recorder was the only southern Baptist publication that published continuously during the Civil War, documenting the powerful effects of events during that pivotal period. Missionary journals from far-flung destinations like India, China, Burma and Africa; medical theories; fashion trends; revivals; agricultural news; and the defining national debates about race, prohibition, suffrage, education and social welfare represent just some of the content that will soon be available and searchable online. The North Carolina Baptist Historical Collection has the most complete set of Biblical Recorders anywhere, so local researchers can examine the originals as well as the digital papers.

Patrologia Latina

This large multivolume set has been replaced by a searchable, online database. This full-text, indexed electronic version includes many major Christian Latin texts written from A.D. 200 to 1216.

Mergent WebReports

The ZSR Library also recently purchased the online version of the Mergent Corporate Manuals. Company information can be retrieved for a single year or across all years, and from a single manual or across all manuals. The database covers 1909 to present.

Database Changes

The URLs for the following databases have changed. Please update your bookmarks.